Criminal Justice

The juvenile charged appeared Thursday in juvenile court and admitted to the allegations involving the tampering of food products with sewing needles at the Lower Macungie Township Giant supermarket

In February, society members called a news conference to detail what they described as a campaign of threats and harassment by a rogue group of temple members. The 3 accused are part of that group, according to the temple leadership.

Lance Wheeler, an Easton community activist and former Easton City Council candidate, has been charged with harassing three students while driving a Wilson Area School District van in 2022.

Gavin Holihan, the Democratic and Republican nominee for Lehigh County district attorney, said he hopes to find resources to assist underserved families so at-risk kids today don't become victims or defendants a decade from now.

The pleas potentially set the stage for a trial in which Kohberger could face the death penalty.

Unofficial results in Lehigh and Northampton counties suggest voters rallied around candidates for Northampton County Council and Lehigh County district attorney, among others.

The changes, introduced at a county council committee meeting Wednesday, would eliminate some youth care worker positions at the county's juvenile justice center, and create new assistant supervisor roles.

Members of the Allentown Police Department gathered Wednesday to celebrate lifesaving efforts and actions of merit and heroism. The idea was to recognize those law enforcement officers who went above and beyond their call of duty.

A grand jury has indicted a man who was already charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, allowing prosecutors to skip a planned week-long preliminary hearing that was set for late June.

Primary candidates for Northampton County judge, Republican Nancy Aaroe and Democrat Brian Panella, secured their parties' nominations and will face off for the seat in November.

Brenda Rodriguez entered the plea before Lehigh County Judge Robert L. Steinberg. She is scheduled to be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 5 and could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Matthew Torres pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle while DUI and other charges in the Aug. 4, 2024, death of Leanna Ferraj, 24, of Brooklyn, New York, who was a front-seat passenger in his car.

Two unnamed male students were arrested after previous hoax reports this month. No one was immediately arrested in connection with Wednesday's bomb threat at Allen High School.

The shooting occurred in the area of North Codorus Township in York County — about 115 miles west of Philadelphia, not far from the Maryland line. The shooter was killed by police, authorities said.

Emil Giordano served as a presiding judge on Northampton County Court, Third Judicial District, from 204 through 2018. He joins Tom Shortell on the latest episode of Lehigh Valley Political Pulse to shed some insight on the role and his time on the bench.

Christopher Fitzgerald also served as a correctional officer at Lehigh County Jail at the start of his law enforcement career.

Monday’s bomb threat came less than a week after another hoax, according to Allentown police.

The driver — only identified Friday as a 51-year-old man from Bethlehem — was taken to a local hospital after the crash, authorities said.

Lehigh County Commissioner Zach Cole-Borghi is the only defendant in an alleged interstate marijuana ring whom authorities have publicly identified. He made his first public comments since being arrested Aug. 28 at his job at Bethlehem City Hall.

The controller's report — published in mid-July — says the Guardian ad Litem program in Lehigh County lacks centralization, oversight and consistency in billing and compensation. That undermines "public trust in child welfare proceedings," he said.

The case against Matthew Wolfe relied heavily on the expert testimony of Dr. Debra Esernio-Jenssen, the former Lehigh Valley Health Network physician being sued for alleged medical child abuse misdiagnoses. With her credibility under scrutiny, prosecutors agreed to cut years off Wolf's sentence.

Tracy and Joshua Dechant, charged with attempting to starve their teen sons to death, have 60 days to find a defense lawyer, a judge said.